


Into The Fire

by TheNarrative



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: AU, Angst, Brotp, Drama, F/F, Friendship, Pipex, Romance, Teen AU, vauseman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 14:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2511677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNarrative/pseuds/TheNarrative
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex Vause is only 17 but has found herself in a dark world that she cannot control. When an argument goes severely wrong, will Alex be able to find the light in the dark and will she be able to love the things she once hated? Vauseman AU. Alex's POV. These characters do not belong to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Broken

Alex stared at the figure before her, even in her drug infused state she could see that this.. Thing, was a thing of immense beauty. Had she been religious she may have compared it to an angel or if she was superstitious she might have said it was a ghost. Alex, however, was neither of those things and so when she saw it; she was in every way possible, speechless.

The thing spoke to her and she marvelled at the sound of it's voice. The pitch and the way the words flowed formed a sweet melody that was much like music to Alex's ears. To add to her euphoric state created by drugs, alcohol and the sound and blurred sight of the figure in front of her she felt a warm sensation curl from her stomach and up to her ribs, she raised a lazy hand to cradle the warmth and was met with a wet feeling on her skin. Intrigued, she looked down and smiled at the red that covered her once white shirt, she imagined the red to reflect the immense amount of love she felt for this figure who still stood in front of her. Alex felt a sudden longing to see the figure's face but it was too far away and Alex couldn't see without the black frames that always decorated her face. She tore her eyes from the figure and looked into the darkness that surrounded her, aware now of the cold feeling on her back. She didn't like the contrast of feeling. The music sounded once again to her ears, drawing Alex's attention back to the figure. This time, Alex listened to the figure and made out the words 'ambulance' and 'leaving'. Alex frowned, did the figure say she was leaving? The familiar feeling of abandonment washed over her, everything good always left her. No matter what it was, her father had left, her mother had left - if not physically but mentally.

_Fahri had left too._

That thought brought Alex's surroundings into focus and a sharp shot of pain erupted from her stomach that made her cry out in both hurt and shock; the warmth she felt, she realised, was actually her own blood and the cool surface on her back was the concrete on the ground of the dirty alley she lay in. She blinked, once, twice and then again and looked up. The figure had come closer to her now and for the first time she saw it's face. No, not it. She. Her. Her figure's face was as beautiful as she could have imagined it. Long, dark blonde, hair flowed down her back in long and lazy waves. Icy, sea blue, eyes bore into her own; full of life and longing and fire. Smooth, pale skin that looked so soft it would challenge the clouds provided a stark contrast with the rosy lips and pink cheeks. The figure was talking but Alex couldn't listen, far too distracted with mapping every feature of this girl in her mind. Bright, white teeth flashed through the rosy lips that Alex longed to touch with her own and then all too soon the figure moved. Once again blurring, and left. Alex was alone and it was as if she had been alone all along. The silence around her seemed to echo off of the walls of the alleyway and pounded into her, as if it were trying to kill her. As the world started to once again go dark, the last thing she heard was the sound of frantic cries and the sight of blue flashing lights shining on the red, wet, ground around her.

* * *

When she awoke, the whole world was on fire.

Or at least that was what it had seemed like at first. She was surrounded by running people, shouting at each other with indistinct words. There was a red light, flickering on and off of the wall in the way the warm reflection from flames would, it was doused every now and then by a flash of blue. The water. Alex was sure she could feel herself burning, the fire was burning into her stomach and spread up to her arm but she couldn't move. There was something holding her down, forcing her to lie there as she slowly burned. She tried to shout at the people who were running around the large space but her words came out strangled. The burning sensation started to increase and she writhed around in pain and desperation to escape but it was pointless; she was stuck. A running person seemed to notice her cries however and ran over to her. Alex forced herself to listen as the person talked slowly to her.

"Hey there, welcome back to the land of the living." The woman smiled, "I understand you're probably quite confused right now.."

Alex wriggled around again, attempting to sit up only to be yanked back down again. She growled in frustration, all she wanted was to get away from the fire. She noticed however that the red and blue flashes seemed to have stopped and so she calmed a little. The woman placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Alex tried to listen again.

"You were in bad shape when we found you and you seemed to be having feverish dreams so we had to tie your arms down to stop you from hurting yourself further," The woman explained, pointing with her clipboard to the restraints that Alex hadn't before noticed. "You're in the hospital - do you remember what happened to you?"

Alex stared at the restraints, wide eyed and unbelieving. What had happened to her? Why was she in the hospital and why did it feel like her stomach was on fire? She looked up at the woman, unable to form the simple word of 'no'. She shook her head instead. The woman nodded, her mouth forming a grim line as she moved to the end of the bed to take the clipboard that hung there. She read over it quickly before sighing and walking back to Alex's side.

"You had a severe stab wound in your stomach, when the paramedics found you.. they found traces of heroin in your system.." The woman seemed to hesitate, casting a cautious glance towards Alex. "Do you remember taking any drugs, Alex?"

Alex frowned, doing her best to remember - she remembered having an argument with Fahri and how he stormed out of the house. She remembered trying to follow him, to explain, he got those men to hit her so she couldn't follow. Had they stabbed her? She didn't remember and she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to. Alex shook her head again. The woman nodded, looking back at Alex's file and arching a brow, she didn't reveal what had triggered her interest to Alex but Alex heard her mumble profanities under her breath. Alex fidgeted again, this time from nervousness. She was in a real mess this time.

"You have a few stitches in the back of your head and a few of your ribs are broken. Are you sure you don't remember anything at all?" She asked again.

Alex shook her head once again but this time the woman smiled comfortingly at her and patted her shoulder.

"Well alright then, I'm afraid I can't take the restraints off till I have spoken to your doctor and I'll call.." The woman turned a page over on Alex's clipboard. "Diane Vause, is that your mother?"

Alex nodded.

"Well I'll give her a call and tell her where you are. Are you in any pain?"

Alex finally managed to find her voice. "Please don't call my mom. I don't want her here and my stomach feels like it's on fire." Alex croaked, she briefly wondered how long she'd been there.

The woman raised her brows and placed the clipboard back. "I'm afraid we have to call your mother, as you're still under the age of 18 and are legally under the care of your mother she has to be informed of your situation. I'll talk to your doctor about getting you some more morphine for the pain." She smiled again and then left Alex alone.

Alex looked around the room she was in, somewhat calmer now. She let her head slump back against the pillow and tried to think back, to figure out what had happened. She didn't remember much, aside from Fahri and his men and.. that figure. Alex frowned, sure that she had probably dreamed that up. She figured that trying to remember was pointless now and focused on herself. First she moved her arms against the restraint, satisfied that they were working correctly she moved her legs up and down. She was glad that they weren't tied down too. She looked around her room properly now, staring for a few moments at the boring picture opposite her bed. There was a window on the right side of her room and Alex guessed that the flashes of red and blue had come from the ambulances outside. She looked towards the door that the woman had left through to see it closed now, on the back of the door a calender was hanging. The picture above the dates was just a generic picture of a smiling kid, that was not what caught Alex's attention though. The blue eyes of the kid on the calender were nothing in comparison to the ones she remembered the figure having. Suddenly Alex's mind was filled with the picture of the girl who had stood over her as she lay in the alleyway. The long blonde hair, bright blue eyes and pink lips. She allowed the picture to fill her mind, glad to have something to focus on other than the pain she felt.

* * *

"Alex?" A gentle voice shook her awake.

Alex grunted and opened her eyes, annoyed at whoever was interrupting her dream about the blonde girl.

"Alex." The voice repeated, not so gentle this time.

Alex rolled her eyes, recognising it immediately. "I'm fine, mom. You can go now."

"Alex no, I'm not leaving here until you do. I'm so sorry, baby. I didn't realise how selfish I was being and I can't believe I let you just slip out of my fingers like that, I was so careless and I didn't care about anything you were doing and now you're in the hospital and it's all my fault and I'm so sorry and I promise to be better and I'll get help or counselling or whatever it takes so that we can go back to normal and how we used to be before that asshole left..." Alex's mom cried, her words tumbling out of her mouth frantically as if they could wait no longer to be free of the confines of her mind.

"Mom, shut up. It's okay and it's not your fault." Alex felt sorry for her mom, she knew that it wasn't her fault she'd got so messed up after her dad left. He'd done some fucked up stuff to her so it was no wonder her mom had retreated away. "I'm okay, really. Just a little sore." Alex smiled encouragingly at her mom, she hated it when she cried.

Her mom nodded and reached down to take Alex's hand, which was now free of the restraints. "The doctor said you can go home today, I can't believe they waited two whole days before they called me!"

Alex's brows shot up in shock, "How long have I been in here?"

"Four days," her mom sniffled. "You slept all of yesterday when I arrived."

Alex nodded slowly and looked down at herself, now dressed in her clothes. "You dressed me?"

"Yeah, I figured you would want to leave as soon as possible." Her mom explained.

Alex nodded, her mom was right. She did want to leave. "I'm going to the bathroom." She muttered, sitting up slowly and carefully planting her feet on the ground. She swayed on the spot for a moment before she got her bearings and headed to the bathroom. Once she had closed and locked the door behind her she lifted up the plain black t-shirt her mom had dressed her in and looked at her stomach. She grimaced, her ribs were an odd shade of purple and there was a large, angry looking and very red, scar just above her left hip. She took a moment and observed her face, the only sign of injury on it was a small bruise on her cheekbone and the end (or beginning) of a cut that seemed to trail down the whole right side of her head. Soon enough her mom was knocking on the door asking if she was alright and Alex sighed, opening the door and giving her mom a tentative smile.

"Let's go." She said, as cheerily as she could manage.

* * *

**2 months later.**

Alex shoved her books into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She was late for school, yet again. Shouting out a brief 'goodbye' to her mom she ran out of the house and jogged the small distance to school. She checked her timetable again,  _maths_. She rolled her eyes and prepared herself to enter the classroom. She heard her teaching shouting inside.

"Nope." Alex muttered, turning sharply and heading towards the bathrooms where she would wait out the rest of her 2nd block lesson. It would be break after this and Alex would be able to slip into school much easier. She checked her phone, only ten minutes left. She sat down on the edge of the sink, nodding to the girls who were already in there and plugged her headphones in. She bobbed her head and swung her feet in time to the music that filled her head. When the other girls doused their cigarettes and sprayed enough body spray over each other to practically kill anyone who breathed in the air, she hopped off of the sink and exited the bathroom. The corridors were flooded with students and teachers alike, rushing to get to their respective classrooms for tutor time. Alex rolled her eyes, knowing her tutor was going to give her shit for being late again. She strolled into her tutor room, and collapsed onto the seat next to her best friend.

"Vause!" Nicky Nichols, her bushy haired, best friend exclaimed at the sight of her.

Alex grinned and bumped shoulders with her, "Hey Nichols."

"Where you been? You missed one hell of a good maths lesson, you know uh.. what's that kid's name? Vernon? Yeah. Vernon opened the window and broke the fucking frame! Mr. Ennis went mental and kicked him out." Nicky laughed.

Alex smiled but didn't laugh, she wasn't surprised that Vernon kid was always doing stupid shit. "What are you doing later Nichols?" She asked, ducking her head as her tutor entered the room.

Nicky looked at Alex as if she had just insulted her mother.

"What?" Alex asked, confused at the look.

"I'm having my fucking party you idiot, how could you forget?" Nicky sighed, exasperated with Alex's short memory.

Alex grinned, remembering now. "Oh shit, yeah." She paused, glancing around the room. "I have no one to go with."

Nicky shrugged, "Doesn't matter. You can be my wingwoman. I got Big Boo to invite a fuckton of dykes but, and listen to this, she also invited Lorna." Nicky became animated, clearly happy at this fact.

Alex arched a singular brow, "Lorna Morello? Isn't she still with Christopher?"

"Yeah but fuck him; she totally has the hots for me. I mean, she practically cums when she brushes past me in the corridors."

Alex laughed loudly, earning a shout of 'be quiet' from her tutor. She ignored him. "No fucking way, she stares at Christopher all doe eyed and shit. She doesn't even give off any dyke vibes." Alex reasoned.

"Vause. Stop trying to ruin my life." Nicky moaned, pushing her friend and then falling silent as their tutor began the register.

Alex waited for her tutor to call her name and groaned internally when her tutor only paused before he said it. Nicky gave Alex a knowing look and they both waited for him to begin shouting.

"You were late again?!" Her tutor, Mr. Sylvester, exclaimed.

"Yeah." Alex replied bluntly.

"Why?!"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?! What? Did you wake up late or something?" His voice was getting louder but Alex enjoyed pushing his buttons.

"Dunno." Alex said, staring blankly at the man.

"GET OUT!" He shouted.

Alex shared a look with Nicky and picked up her bag before walking out of the classroom, disappointed that he had risen to her bait so quickly. She walked down towards the canteen where she would wait for Nicky and also eat her breakfast of a bacon roll and pizza. Nicky joined her a few moments later, getting her own food and sitting across from Alex. Alex let Nicky talk, Nicky normally had enough to say for the both of them - there was always something going on and she always knew about it first.

"So Red told me that if I get high again she's going to kick my ass but I don't think she will." Nicky yammered.

Alex scoffed, "Red will fuck you up. Especially after what happened last time."

Nicky made a face, they both knew that when Red made a threat; it was never empty. Red was a parental figure to the both of them, she wasn't that much older than them - having only just finished college but she was more of a parent that Nicky's own had ever been and she was always there for Alex when her own mom failed to step up.

"Hey, so. Have you seen that girl?" Nicky asked after a moments silence as they both thought about what Red would do.

Alex laughed and shook her head, "Nicky I told you. I probably just dreamed her up, I was kinda fucked up you know - lost a lot of blood and was high on heroin and booze."

Nicky grunted, unwilling to believe that the person who Alex had obsessed over for almost a whole month wasn't real.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, lessons went on without any excitement and Alex even managed to stay out of trouble. She waited for Nicky outside of the school and once her bushy haired friend was ready, they begun the long walk back to Nicky's house.

"Alright, so don't dress up too fancy. I'm probably gonna have a bonfire outside seeing as my mom is away again. I don't think it'll be too cold but be prepared in case I'm wrong."

Alex nodded, she would stay at Nicky's house for an hour or two like normal and then she would go home, dump her bag, change and go back again. Alex wondered why she didn't just live at Nicky's house - she was there so often it would be easier for her if she did. Alex sighed, hoping that tonight would provide a good distraction and change from the boring cycle her life had been going in lately, she needed something that would cut it all up and actually make her happy for longer than an hour. Maybe she would even find a nice distraction in a girl she would never see again. Alex smirked, having no doubts that she would.


	2. Infatuated

Alex stared at herself in the full length mirror that hung on Nicky's bedroom wall. She wasn't sure why she felt like she needed to look perfect tonight but she just did. She tried to shake the thoughts from her head so that she could relax and almost groaned when the thoughts were replaced with the images of the girl again. As she thought of her, she rubbed the scar on her stomach subconsciously; as she always did when the blonde beauty came to mind.

"Stop fantasizing about your girlfriend, Vause." Nicky commented from her position on the bed.

Alex dropped her hand immediately, blinking a few times as she came back to the present. She grinned at Nicky's reflection in the mirror, "Please tell me that Norma is coming tonight."

Nicky arched an eyebrow at her friend and laughed. "Vause, Norma is as straight as a  _ruler_ ; no way are you getting into her pants tonight."

Alex raised her own brow, intrigued at the sound of a challenge. She thought of Norma, the pretty red head who was dating some 3-brain celled football player and chuckled. "You mean she's as straight as pasta; won't be so straight once she gets wet." Alex winked.

Nicky laughed again and shook her head, returning her attention to painting her toenails. Alex stood in front of the mirror for a few more minutes before she moved over towards the large window that occupied most of the far wall of Nicky's bedroom. Alex looked out, she was met with an almost perfect view of the sunset over suburban London. She tapped her fingers in a slow rhythm on the glass and allowed her mind to return back to the blonde, forgetting the prospect of turning Norma to the darkside. Alex had never been this hung up on a girl before, or ever for that matter. Even so, she was curious about this power that this girl; whom she had never properly met, had over her. Alex still wasn't even sure if she had actually seen her or if her brain had just shown her the image in some ways to grant her a somewhat decent death. She scoffed internally, there was no way her brain could come up with someone so perfect. Alex tended to go for the more grotty looking girls, ones with good standards but also had the rebellious-take no shit kind of look about them. They always put up a fight and the chase was Alex's favourite part. Alex's attention was drawn out of her thoughts and down to the garden where Nicky was now lighting the bonfire, there was the quiet murmur of voices below, muffled by both distance and the glass, as the first few people arrived and Alex sighed, heading out of Nicky's safe, warm and quiet room and into the impending chaos below.

Alex staggered towards the makeshift seating area around the bonfire and sat down on the nearest crate to her. The party had gotten into full swing about half an hour after the planned starting time and it had only taken Alex an hour to get drunk. She would have paced herself normally, revelling in the knowledge that actually being able to remember a party often made it better but after being turned down multiple times by Norma and then turned down by a few other very-lesbian girls she had thrown all caution to the wind and necked every alcoholic beverage that she could get her hands on. She stared into the bright, yellowy-orange flames of the large fire, cradling a beer between her hands and allowed herself to sober just a little. She gazed around the large garden and smiled, Nicky's parties were legendary at school. Everyone and their neighbour turned up for them and they liked her parties so much that they didn't make that much of a mess for fear of not being invited to one again. Alex wasn't sure how, but Nicky always managed to supply her parties with a neverending source of alcohol, weed and food. Alex presumed it was thanks to her mom's credit card. She took a long swig of her beer and smiled at a random boy who passed her a spliff as he walked passed. She put it in her pocket for later. She caught sight of Nicky who had her arm around some blonde chick, who was actually taller than Nicky. Alex chuckled, it wasn't that hard to find someone taller than Nicky. She sat there, watching Nicky chat to the blonde with curiosity, it had been a while since Nicky had tried to pull a girl - she was normally so concentrated and focused on trying to get back into Lorna's pants that she barely even glanced at other girls. Maybe she was drunk or high; or maybe both, Alex mused. She took another drink from her beer and was about to turn away from Nicky when the blonde laughed and looked back at the fire. Alex stopped dead in her tracks, beer bottle hanging suspended in the air and her mouth half open. She stared wide-eyed at the blonde girl, not really believing what she was seeing. She was drunk, after all. Still though - Nicky had her arm around the blonde still meaning that she was real enough. Suddenly Alex felt a fiery bout of jealousy rumble up from her stomach, Nicky had her arm around Alex's angel. Alex stood up quickly, swaying a little from the head rush, and walked; or rather stumbled, towards Nicky. She took a deep breath, put on her best smile and said, "Hey."

Nicky turned around at the sound of Alex's voice, dragging the pretty blonde with her and grinned at Alex. "Hey Vause, this is Piper Chapman."

The blonde, who Alex now learned to be called Piper, stared at Alex much the same way Alex had stared at Piper the first time. "H..hey.." She mumbled after a moment. "Good to see you're doing okay."

Nicky frowned and looked confused, "You two know each other?" She asked.

Alex glanced at Nicky for a moment but her eyes quickly trailed back to Piper, almost afraid to blink for the fear she would vanish into a puff of smoke if she even looked away for another second. "Something like that." Alex mumbled in answer, a slow grin falling onto her face.

* * *

**3 hours earlier**

Piper Chapman was not an overly popular girl. If anything, she was average. She did what she was told, always handed in her homework on time and stuck to the strict rule that boys were not her problem until she had finished her GCSEs in the summer of next year. This made for a rather unexciting and extremely average outer appearance, one that Piper held very close to her heart. Of course, Piper received a lot of attention from the boys at her school; she was outrageously pretty. Piper turned down most advances that they made to her, her excuses always being that she was focusing on schoolwork or she didn't want to be in a relationship, Piper had only ever given one boy the chance to date her. Larry Bloom. Larry was only a few months older than her at 16 and he wasn't the typical boy that you would expect to see with Piper. Piper who fitted what one would consider a very popular, smart and lively looking appearance. Larry was exceptionally ordinary and also underachieving. When asked, he would describe himself as the typical jewish boy with no strive for the future other than riding on the back of his mother and father's penny. This was exactly the way he had described himself to Piper upon their first conversation and it was the exact reason that Piper had allowed him to take her on a date. Said date, however, was not what Piper had hoped it would be. She was texting Larry to confirm details of the date when he had let it slip that he was actually taking her to a party that his best friend, Pete, had invited him to. Piper sighed and collapsed onto her bed, so much for a free dinner and movie. She texted back the obligatory 'okays' and 'see you soons' before calling her own best friend, Polly.

"PIPER!" Polly exclaimed down the phone not a second after the first ring.

Piper laughed, "Hey Polls."

"You're going on a  _date_!" She squealed.

Piper sighed and rolled her eyes at Polly who was ever telling Piper that she should accept more of the offers that she got from boys. Boys were stupid and immature and only wanted to get their dicks wet, Piper always countered. An argument that was solid. "I don't think I can call it a date anymore." Piper replied dully.

"What? Why?" Polly asked, her tone changing to sad and concerned almost immediately.

"He's taking me to a fucking  _party_ , Polly. Jesus christ, whatever happened to chivalry?" Piper complained.

"A party?" Polly paused for a moment, clearly thinking. "Well it could be worse. At least he isn't taking you to the park so you can sit on the swings and swap childhood stories."

Piper laughed, recalling the story of one of Polly's dates that had actually gone that way. "I suppose." She sighed loudly again. "Hey, do you want to come too?" She asked after a moment hopefully.

"Hell yeah. Oh! Is Pete going to be there?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course he is. Since when does Larry go  _anywhere_  at all without Pete?"

"Shut up Piper, I wouldn't want to go anywhere without Pete either." Polly gushed.

"Hmm, well I'll get the address off Larry and text it to you. I better go and get ready, I'll see you later Poll."

"See you later Pipes, love you!" Polly sung happily before hanging up.

Piper smiled and asked Larry for the address so she could send it to Polly and her mouth opened into a surprised 'o' shape when she got it. She easily recognised it to be in the richest area of their small suburb in London, Piper's family were well off but the address this party was at was in a place where only celebrities and millionaires lived. Whoever was hosting this party sure was someone big. Someone Piper didn't know, clearly. She forwarded the text to Polly who responded with the expected 'omg' and 'wtf?!' before standing up to take a shower and get dressed.

Another hour passed and Piper only had 20 minutes left until Larry would be there to pick her up. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, being careful not to disturb the light layer of makeup that she had decorated her face with. She stared into her wardrobe, 25% of her clothes already strewn out on the floor around her as she tried to decide what to wear. Now she knew where the party was actually going to be she didn't know what to wear and she felt stupid for not asking for some kind of dress code. She checked the time again, 15 minutes left and Piper hadn't done her hair yet.

"Shit.." She muttered to herself, deciding that she would just have to pray that there wasn't a dress code to the party she was soon going to be at. She tugged on a pair of blue denim shorts that stopped midway up her thighs and then pulled on a plain white t-shirt and a checkered red flannel shirt over that. She rolled up the sleeves on the oversized shirt before looking in the mirror again and smiling, the short showing off her athletic lower figure and her toned legs from all of her running. She hoped once again that she wasn't expected to dress up fancy for the party as she just had time to brush out her hair which had settled into natural waves and apply a paint of light lipgloss and mascara. The doorbell rang and Piper yelled that she would get it to save the embarrassment that she and Larry would both feel if her mum were to open the door. She jogged down the stairs, making sure that she had already grabbed her phone, some money and her house keys, and opened the door to see a smiling Larry.

"Hey." She chimed, appraising him. He didn't look too bad, she had to admit. He was dressed in clean pressed blue jeans, a grey t-shirt and a short pea coat.

"Hey." Larry said simply in reply as Piper moved to the left to grab her white converse off of the shoe rack. She shoved her feet into them and yelled out a goodbye to her mum before rushing out of the door and closing it behind her.

"Let's go!" She said, feeling a little more excited now.

"Sure."

Larry led Piper down her large driveway and towards the road where a variety of cars where parked that Piper knew very well did not belong to Larry. Eventually he stopped at a bright blue moped and looked at Piper expectantly before handing her a helmet. Piper looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious?" She asked slowly at the realisation sunk in that Larry actually expected her to put the helmet on her head and get on the moped.

"What? What's wrong with it?" He asked defensively.

Piper laughed, "Well, for starters, I cannot put that helmet and take it off without the possibility of ruining my hair or makeup or both. Secondly, I do not want to die in a bike accident and thirdly, unless you plan on staying sober all night I think you should call a taxi."

Larry sighed but must have realised Piper was right about one or all of those things because he took out his phone and dialled the number for the nearest taxi service. They only waited about five minutes for the taxi to arrive and it was only another ten minutes of quiet small talk in the back of said taxi before they arrived at the party. The sun had set quickly whilst they were in the taxi and it was dark outside now but the night was still warm enough for Piper to not feel too much of a difference in temperature once she had stepped out of the car. She walked towards a large yellow light that was being emitted from the back of the house and followed the sound of the music until she came to an open side gate that led into the garden of the large and very expensive looking house. As soon as she entered the garden she was immersed into the parties atmosphere and she reveled in it like she had been there for hours. A slow smile slowly graced her face and she picked up a cold beer from one of the various coolers that were spread around the area. In the centre of the garden there was a large bonfire that would challenge any seasoned Guy Fawkes celebrator and she gravitated towards it almost instinctively, craving the hot and dangerous warmth that it dealt. She stood there for five minutes, forgetting about Larry completely until he came up behind her and handed her a fresh bottle of beer to replace her now empty one. He smiled at her.

"You having a good time?" He asked.

Piper nodded and took a long drink.

"Listen, I know this was meant to be a date but if you don't mind... I wanted to ask if we could  _forget_  about that tonight and just enjoy ourselves however we want?"

Piper almost rolled her eyes, she wasn't surprised or hurt at the suggestion. She was almost glad of it. She knew that Larry would want to mingle and take advantage of drunk girls and she didn't care, as long as she could drink and sit by the fire all night as she people watched. She shrugged, "Sure. I don't mind." She replied casually to Larry before walking to the other side of the fire where she saw people pulling empty beer crates to create seats. She looked around and saw Polly eating Pete's face, she laughed knowing that she would never hear the end of how Polly had finally caught her long sought after conquest.

"What are you laughing at?" A voice asked from behind her, making her jump. Piper turned to see a bushy haired girl standing behind her, smirking.

"My friend eating that boy's face off." Piper replied, gesturing with a nod of her head in Polly's direction.

The bushy haired girl laughed on seeing them and then made a face at Piper. " _Gross_." She seemed to look Piper up and down for a moment before taking a step closer. "So, you enjoying my party?"

Piper couldn't contain her surprise that the bushy haired girl was the one who had arranged this party. "Wait, this is  _your_  party? Oh wow... Yeah, this is amazing. Like really. Best party I've ever been too.."

The girl laughed and nodded, seemingly ignoring Piper's surprise. "Glad to hear it, my name's Nicky by the way."

"Piper." She replied, nodding her own head.

Piper and Nicky talked for a while, they didn't have much in common but that started to matter less and less as Piper drank more and more, her original intentions of people watching all night were almost all but forgotten. Nicky, she found, was very funny. In a kind of vulgar and slightly annoying way. She also discovered that she was very much a lesbian and that her mother was away from home nearly everyday of the year, the only exceptions being Nicky's birthday, Christmas and mother's day. Piper thought for a moment that Nicky was quite lucky, Piper's mother was rather overbearing and pushy. At some point, Piper wasn't exactly sure when, Nicky had slid her arm casually over Piper's shoulders and had one hand toying with a strand of her hair. The thoughts that this notion induced were strange, Piper had never considered her own sexuality, any talk of differing sexualities in her house had been strictly forbidden and as far as her mother saw it, everyone in her family was as straight as a piece of scaffolding. Still though, Piper couldn't help but wonder about herself. Maybe she had been kidding herself all these years about why she had turned down nearly every boy who had approached her. No, she thought. I like boys, hot boys. She thought back to the day in the alley way, the alcohol bringing down the mental wall she had put up against that day without any effort and her mind floated to the girl she had found. She remembered thinking straight away that the girl was drop dead gorgeous and well, very sexy. That is until she saw her collapse onto the ground and the knife that lay bloodied and red just behind her. Piper heard Nicky make a joke and laughed, not allowing herself to be caught in a daze and looked toward the fire as she did so. Willing the fire to burn the memory of everything she had seen in the alleyway that day. Piper was grateful at the distraction that seemed to present itself to Nicky when a new, husky, voice said 'hey' behind them. She was about to sigh in relief that she would only have to pay attention a little bit until she saw the face she had just been thinking about and her mind went blank. Her body froze and her eyes widened. It was all she could do to stop her mouth from dropping open too. She stood as still as a statue as Nicky introduced them and then realised that she was expected to say something.

"H...hey.." She stammered, still in shock. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Good to see you're doing okay." She said before she realised the words had come out of her mouth. She had no idea if this girl even remembered her, or what had happened that night. She wanted to hit herself in the head for being so stupid and forward.

"You two know each other?" Nicky asked, confusion clear in her voice.

"Something like that." The dark haired girl mumbled, a slow smirk appearing on perfect features.

Piper stared at the girl standing opposite her as she talked to Nicky. She noted that the dark haired girl didn't take her eyes off of her for long, each time Piper locked eyes with her the green eyes behind the thick-rimmed glasses seemed to burn with more intensity than the fire behind them. There was a strange knotting feeling creeping up Piper's spine and her hands grew clammy. She wriggled out from under Nicky's arm and walked away from the two girls to go and get another beer, she needed to be able to think straight. She downed half of the sour liquid straight away and took a long, deep breath. Her eyes wandered back to the dark haired girl, had Nicky introduced her as Vause? Piper frowned. She certainly looked better than the last time she had seen her, where she had been delirious and clearly almost out of her mind. She was dressed simply but still managed to look ridiculously attractive in ripped back skinny jeans that hugged her long legs and a loose fitting black t-shirt that still managed to show off her curves and the leather jacket that she donned on top. Piper was so lost in checking out the girl that she hadn't noticed the fact that Polly had finally found her and was trying to talk to her.

"Christ Piper, are you even listening?" Polly fumed.

Piper shook her head and looked somewhat distractedly at Polly. "Oh, hey."

Polly rolled her eyes and followed Piper's gaze. "Who are you looking at?" She asked curiously.

"No one." Piper responded a little too quickly, earning a suspicious look from her best friend.

* * *

Alex looked towards Piper again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She wanted nothing more than to go up to her after she'd walked away but Nicky was rambling on about Lorna again and Alex knew if she left it would only get worse once the party had died down so she waited for Nicky to stop talking. When Nicky didn't stop talking Alex looked around and spotted Lorna herself. She held up a finger, telling Nicky to wait and ran towards Lorna. She grabbed the short brunette by the arm and dragged her towards Nicky. "Just fucking tell her, Nichols." Alex grumbled, letting go of Lorna and looking around to try and see where Piper had gone. When she spotted her walking towards the gate, assumedly to leave, Alex all but sprinted towards her. "Piper, hey!" She yelled, trying to get the blonde's attention. She couldn't let her slip away again without getting to have at least a conversation with her. Piper turned, surprised for a moment and then the wide-eyed innocent look set in again once they locked eyes. Alex grinned at her, and beckoned for the blonde to come over to her. Piper obeyed.

"We didn't get to have a conversation before.. you ran away." Alex accused, teasingly.

Piper smiled and shrugged. "Well, I never got a proper introduction."

Alex raised a brow and extended her hand. "Alex Vause, pleasure to finally meet you."

Piper shook her hand, her pale fingers lingering a moment longer than necessary. Something Alex noted dutifully. "Good to put a name to a face." Piper replied.

"So tell me, Piper, how did you end up here?" Alex gestured to the party around her.

Piper sighed and rolled her eyes, "I was supposed to go on a date with this guy from my school and he took me here instead and then asked if we could forget that this was a date. Presumably so that he could get it in with some drunk girl with no standards whatsoever."

Alex laughed, "You don't sound that upset about it." She commented.

"No, I guess I'm not as upset as I should be." Piper smiled, grabbing yet another beer and downing it all in one.

Alex grinned and raised both her brows, a little shocked. "Big drinker, huh? Fancy a little competition?"

Piper giggled adorably. "Are you trying to get me drunk?" She slurred slightly, the sudden intake of alcohol affecting her straight away.

Alex shook her head. "By the sounds of it, you already are."

"Know it all." Piper grumbled, grinning.

Alex stayed quiet for a moment, taking a sip of her own drink. "So tell me, why aren't you upset about getting ditched by your date?" She asked.

Piper shrugged and didn't say anything for a while. "I don't know. At first I thought it was because I don't really like him but then I thought it might be because I don't like guys, you know?" Piper asked in the kind of confidence one would talk in when you are drunk. "I mean, I'm not sure because I've never.. _been_.. with a girl." She giggled as if the thought of it was extremely rebellious and the sound made Alex smile.

"Would you like to find out?" Alex asked, the alcohol in her own system only boosting the ever present confidence she held.

Piper looked at her, her blue eyes smouldering in the dimming light of the fire. She took a step closer to Alex but stumbled and started to fall forwards, Alex held out her arms to steady the blonde and laughed quietly. Now that Piper was in her arms she felt nervous, the confidence she had felt only a second ago seemed to have jumped out of the window. She swallowed hard and looked at Piper intently. Piper cast a long look down to Alex's lips, her long eyelashes fluttering. Alex leaned down towards Piper's lips, almost touching them when someone seemed to rip Piper from her arms.

"What the fuck!" She shouted as she saw Piper being dragged away by Nicky and another girl. Nicky gave her a warning look and Alex knew better than to follow. She cursed and kicked at a bottle that lay near her foot. She had been so close but she was still so far. She finished her drink and then tossed the glass into the fire angrily. Alex's night had certainly not gone as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews you guys left on the last chapter, made me want to write more to this story! I decided to have them live in England simply because they are still school age and I know nothing about what school is like in the US and also because it will be easier for me to write about the surroundings, having never been to the US I wouldn't feel able to write any kind of accurate descriptions of the areas. Aside from that, I'm more or less going to keep things semi-canon as far as personalities and relationships between characters go. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, the more reviews I get the more inspired I am to write for this! And, of course, thanks for reading :D


	3. Deprived

Alex was shook roughly from the involuntary slumber she had fallen into whilst waiting for Nicky to return after dragging Piper away from her.

"For fucks sake, Alex. Wake up!" She shouted into Alex's ear.

"Jesus christ! Where's the fire?" Alex retorted, holding back a yawn.

"What the hell were you doing earlier?" Nicky launched straight into interrogation mode.

Alex sighed and glanced around, the sun was starting to rise and the fire had all but died out. There was an array of bodies strewn around on the grass where people had passed out or just fallen asleep although most were beginning to awaken in the cold morning air. "I was making friends." Alex replied, standing up from the lawn chair that had served as her bed for the last few hours.

"Alex do you know who that was?"

"Yes, you told me. Piper Chapman." Alex looked at Nicky confused and wondered if her friend was high.

"She's involved with Fahri." Nicky growled through gritted teeth, finally catching Alex's attention.

Alex frowned, "What?"

"I don't know how but, you know Markus? Well, he told me that he's seen Piper round Fahri's place more than a few times when he's been picking up." Nicky went on to explain, checking around them to make sure no one was listening. "What if she had something to do with you getting hurt?"

Alex laughed and looked at Nicky both brows arched. "Nicky, I had never met her before tonight. Jesus, I didn't think she was even real!" Alex sighed, even if the girl was involved with Fahri that didn't mean she had to stay away. Fahri hadn't contacted her for a long time so he had no more say over what she did. Who she did.

"I don't like it." Nicky complained, crossing her arms.

"I didn't ask you to like it, Nicky. I know you're just trying to look out for me but you should know better than to take gorgeous drunk girls away from me, especially when I'm about to work my magic." Alex said lightheartedly. She was never able to be mad at Nicky.

Nicky scoffed, "Whatever." She muttered before heading into the house.

Alex followed her and sl walked straight to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and chugging the whole thing down. She wanted to avoid any kind of hangover the best she could. The sound of keys in the front door made Alex close the fridge door to watch the door curiously, Nicky's mum wasn't due back for another 3 months yet.

"Fucking hell, I am going to kill her!" A voice angrily ranted as suitcases and bags were thrown through the open door.

Alex smirked, "Hey Ms. Nichols." Alex called out from the kitchen, she had no doubt that Nicky's mother hadn't expected to come home to the aftermath of a party.

Nicky's mum poked her head around the door at the sound of Alex's voice and gave her a genuine smile. "Oh! Hey Alex honey, how are you?" The woman asked kindly.

Alex smiled, amused but also somewhat annoyed at the clear liking Nicky's mum showed for her over her own daughter. "Fine thanks," She replied lamely before her curiosity set in. "I thought you were still in Dubai?"

Nicky's mum smiled disdainfully. "I should be there but I had some... business to take care of here. Urgent matters."

Alex nodded and put her empty bottle in the bin before going up the stairs and running quietly to Nicky's room. When she entered the room Nicky was pulling on some fresh clothes and flashed Alex an annoyed look at her intrusion.

"Your mum's back." Alex stated, going towards the side of the clots that held a small collection of her own clothes.

"What?!" Nicky exclaimed. "Oh fuck. I am so dead. Why is she here?"

Alex shrugged, lazily taking off her own clothes and dumping them on the floor. "Business apparently."

Nicky laughed, "More like she got dumped." Her bushy hair turned as Nicky looked out into the messy garden, still filled with sleeping people and discarded beer bottles. "Cleaning crew should be here in 5." She murmured.

Alex had finished changing now and was just retying her shoes. "Nicky.." Alex began slowly. "You don't, by any chance, have Piper's number do you?"

Nicky looked exasperatedly at Alex. "Vause I do  _not_  need you doing this right now. I need to go and handle my mum and clean up all this mess. I'll call you later, okay?"

Alex sighed and stood up waving a silent goodbye to a frantic Nicky. When she got back down the stairs, Nicky's mum had vanished so Alex just walked out of the house and began making her way home. She didn't feel like walking through the dirty part of town today, even if it was quicker, so she took the longer way round, journeying through the less upscale suburbs. Alex walked slowly, tiptoeing around her fragile brain. She wasn't sure if she was completely sober yet and she guessed that was why she didn't have much of a hangover. She wasn't paying attention and jumped when a bright blue Vespa beeped at her as she almost veered into the road. Alex frowned and watched the bike stop a little ways down the road, a smallish boy getting off of it and walking up to the house opposite. Alex walked even slower as she heard a door slam and raised voices, she was fighting off a smile as she walked closer to the house but she couldn't contain her surprise when she saw a rather defrazzled looking Piper shouting at the boy who had almost run her over.

"Piper?" She said loudly, not caring that she had interrupted whatever the boy had been saying.

Piper looked at Alex in astonishment and Alex wondered if she even remembered anything that had happened last night.

"Alex, hey." She smiled warmly at Alex.

"Hangover?" Alex asked, still ignoring the boy who was now glaring at her.

"Terrible." Piper admitted with a laugh.

Alex grinned and shrugged. "I know the perfect cure and was just about to go get it if you wanted to join me." She offered, much to the annoyance of the boy.

Piper nodded eagerly and finally returned her attention to the boy whom she had been fighting with. "Go home Larry, I'm not in the mood to fight with you over this. You fucked up, not my problem."

"You can't just walk away in the middle of an argument!" Larry shouted at her.

Piper looked at him coldly. " _Watch me_." She walked over to Alex, grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

Alex laughed once they were a safe distance away. "Who was that?" She asked, looking down at Piper.

"My 'date' from last night." Piper explained.

Alex nodded, a smirk toying with the corners of her mouth. "Didn't have him down as your type."

Piper laughed, "What did you think my type was then?" She asked.

Alex shrugged playfully. "Oh I don't know... Tall, dark long hair, green eyes, black glasses, boobs and I might go as far to say vagina."

Piper laughed and pushed Alex gently. "Funny." She chided.

"I thought so," Alex chuckled.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while longer till they arrived outside of a small cafè. Alex held the door open for Piper to enter and Piper smiled gratefully at her. They both ordered a coffee and Alex got herself a blueberry muffin before finding a secluded table in the back corner of the building.

"So Alex," Piper began once they were seated. "What do you do?"

"Girls mostly." Alex replied, taking a bite out of her muffin.

Piper snorted, Alex's humour not lost on her but arched a brow expectantly.

"School. Well, college I guess. I'm studying English Lit, philosophy and politics." Alex expanded once she had finished the bite of food.

Piper nodded, smiling, clearly impressed by the answer Alex had given her. As most were. "So you're 18?" She asked after a moment.

"17." Alex corrected her. "Let me guess, you're 12?" She joked.

Piper scoffed, "Please, being told I look like I'm 12 is the last thing I need right now." She paused to take a sip of her coffee. "15, actually."

Alex shook her head, feigning shock. "And to think I almost kissed a minor!" She exclaimed quietly.

Piper grinned at her and leaned forward, "Don't tell me you wouldn't try to do it again, said minor would be severely disappointed."

The corner of Alex's mouth turned up into a sly smile and she brought her hand up to toy with a loose strand of dirty blonde hair. "I would have to be convinced it was worth the risk of my  _serious_  street cred."

"I think I could arrange something."

Alex grinned now, leaning forward and tilting her head until she saw Piper's eyes flutter shut at which point she sat back in her seat. She laughed when Piper opened her eyes again and slumped back into her seat, looking both annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "Ass." The blonde muttered.

"I like them too." Alex countered, chuckling. Playing with Piper was too easy and so, so, much fun.

Piper smirked and shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully at Alex. "I hope you're going to make up for that later."

Alex arched a brow at Piper and placed her hands flat on the table. "So there's going to be a later, hmm?"

Piper blushed a glorious shade of pink and seemed to sink lower into her seat, making Alex chuckle. "I hope so.." She murmured quietly.

"Later it is then, I mean I was going to 'make up for it' sooner than that but.." Alex sucked air in through her teeth as if what she was about to say was incredibly hard for her, "But if you would rather do it later then I suppose I can comply with that." She shrugged.

"No!" Piper exclaimed, seeming to surprise even herself. She blushed again. "I mean doing it now would be okay too." She cleared her throat and looked down at her cup.

Alex smiled gently at Piper once the blue eyes were no longer locked into her own and she reached over with one hand to tilt her head up and then leaned forward slowly to kiss Piper.

"Piper?" A voice called from behind them.

Piper jerked away before Alex's lips could touch hers and Alex groaned and slumped back into her suit. The universe really didn't want her to kiss Piper. A shortish brunette girl walked over to their table, she looked around the same age as Piper and she looked furious.

"Piper!" The girl huffed. "I have been trying to call you for  _ages_ , Larry was calling me going crazy about you walking off."

Piper shrunk down into her seat and sighed audibly. "Polly, shut up." She commanded. "Alex, this is Polly, my best friend, and Polly this is Alex."

Polly seemed to see Alex for the first time since she stormed over to their table. Alex gave her a small smile. "Oh." Polly said, "You were at the party last night, right?" She asked.

"Yup." Alex responded, she remembered last night and she remembered seeing the girl help drag Piper off. Alex narrowed her eyes at her, "Right. You were the one who dragged Piper away."

Polly nodded once, her mouth set into a thin line as she turned back to Piper. "Piper!  _Please_  do something about Larry, he's going to send me fucking crazy!"

Piper nodded and held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright! I'll call him later."

Polly breathed out, seemingly relieved and then walked out of the café again as quickly as she had arrived. Piper was watching her leave as Alex sulked in her seat, flicking loose bits of sugar off of the table. She didn't notice Piper turn her attention back to her and jumped slightly when Piper's hand touched her own, she looked up to find blue eyes searching her own and she found herself unable to look away; as if there was some unbreakable or unstoppable force between them, pulling them ever closer until their lips finally touched.

The first kiss was soft, innocent and testing. It was a clean and simple touch of lip to lip. The second kiss was more confident but still safe, one hand reaching to cup a cheek whilst another tangled in dark hair. The second kiss led to a third kiss, mouths parted to allow tongues to explore the new area that was attached to their own. The next kiss was more urgent, tongues dancing and ever fighting for control; a battle that Alex eventually won. After that the pair broke away from each other, grinning as they breathed heavily from the excitement of the kiss they had just experienced. Kissing Piper, Alex realised, was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Kissing Piper was magical almost, something she thought she wouldn't get tired of. Something that she wanted to do again and again and again.

They stared at each other over the small square table, coffees and muffins alike all but forgotten as they got lost in each other, hands locked onto faces or lost inside hair. They kissed again and again. Eventually they broke apart and fell back into their seats, foolish grins graced both of their faces. Alex didn't want this to end, ever. She stood up and held out her hand for Piper to take and led her out of the coffee shop with the blondes hand clamped tightly in her own. She took Piper to a secluded park that was warm from the morning sun and protected from the noise of the busy roads behind them by the trees. She sat down on a patch of grass and lay back, letting the sun wash over her. She felt Piper's presence lie down beside her and she turned her head to the side to look at the blonde.

"What's the verdict then?" Alex asked.

"Hmm?" Piper asked in return, confused.

"Well last night you were wondering if you didn't care about your date ditching you because you might like girls, so I was wondering what conclusion you came to. I mean, I'm  _pretty_  sure I have a good idea but y'know." Alex explained, smirking.

Piper blushed and smacked her face with her hands. "Oh my  _god_. Did I actually say that?"

Alex laughed and nodded.

"Holy shit. That's embarrassing." She moaned. She took her hands off of her face and looked at Alex, "Well I don't know if I like all girls but I defiantly like kissing  _you_."

Alex grinned triumphantly but it faded after a moment and she looked away from Piper and frowned up at the sky.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked, concerned.

"I was just thinking about.." Alex hesitated, wondering if this was the best time to bring up what Nicky had told her about Fahri and how Alex had seen Piper when she was pretty sure she was about to die. Alex ran a hand through her hair and glanced at Piper. "You were there, that night in the alleyway." She stated.

Piper went quiet and looked up into the sky for a moment. "I was." She paused and chewed on her bottom lip. "I called the ambulance." She said after another moment.

Alex nodded. "Do you know what happened? To me I mean." Alex asked, still unsure about how she had ended up in that position in the first place.

Piper opened her mouth to say something but then snapped it shut again. "I saw you from across the street and the first thing I thought was that you were beautiful and then.. then I saw the knife and, well."

Alex arched a brow but didn't take Piper's bait to change the subject. "Nicky told me you know Fahri."

Piper snapped her head to look at Alex now, "How do you know Fahri?" She demanded.

Piper's tone irritated Alex and she sat up so she could look down at Piper. "I should ask you the same thing." She retorted.

"He's an old family friend, I don't like him but he had some thing with my mum a while back." Piper made a face, "I have to go there sometimes and work out some numbers for him, he pays me pretty well for it although he's making a shit tonne of money so I suppose it's no surprise." Piper shrugged.

Alex frowned, not sure whether or not to believe Piper. Fahri had never mentioned anyone doing any work like that for him. "Right. You don't know how he makes the money?" She asked cautiously, doing her best to sound curious as if she had been wondering too.

Piper sighed and shook her head, leaning up on one elbow. "Nope, I've asked him a million times but he always just says I'll find out when I need to know which will probably be never."

Alex chuckled, "Yep that sounds like Fahri." She looked at Piper and chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I did some work for him, although I haven't heard from him since..." Alex let her words trail off.

"Work like what I do?" Piper prompted.

Alex smiled half-heartedly. "Something like that, yeah."

Alex felt a little better for talking about it to Piper. She was confident now that Piper had nothing to do with what happened to her. She lay back down in the warm sun and took one of Piper's hands into her own, squeezing it. They lay in the sun for a while until a shadow fell over them and Alex opened one eye.

"Holy shit!" Alex laughed at the sight before her, both in surprise and excitement. She let go of Piper's hand and scrambled to her feet to give the red headed woman who had stood over her a large hug. "Red," She said warmly. "How comes I didn't see you at the party last night?"

Red, Nicky's 28 year old adopted Russian mother, shrugged. "I didn't feel like watching you and Nicky get off your faces." She stated.

Alex chuckled and stepped back from the woman, "Well jokes on you because we only got drunk. Well, maybe I got a little high but I  _swear_  it was only weed."

Red hmm'd and then jutted her chin towards Piper who was now sitting on the grass, watching the two of them curiously. "Last nights conquest?" Red asked.

Alex turned to look at Piper and smiled, holding out her hand to help the blonde up. "No." Alex responded gently. "Piper this is Red, Nicky's  _better_  mum and Red this is Piper Chapman my uh, hm." Alex stopped, unsure what she was supposed to call Piper because they were certainly more than just friends.

"Nicky's better mum?" Piper asked confused, looking between Red and Alex.

"Nicky's real mum isn't there for her much, physically or mentally so I stepped in for her." Red explained as if it was simple.

Piper nodded slowly and then smiled tenderly at Red. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm sure." Red muttered, turning her attention back to Alex. "Why isn't Nicky answering her phone?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably, "Nicky's mum came back from Dubai early and caught us before the cleaning crew got round after last night." She explained.

"Right. Go round there later and check up on her for me, will you? Oh, I got a call from a Mr. Caputo. I would like to know why he thinks I am your mother?"

Alex grimaced, "I got in trouble for getting into a fight with some stupid cunt in the canteen. Of course I'm the one who gets called into the head teachers office so I gave him your number. Sorry."

Red nodded and patted Alex's shoulder. "It's okay, your mum still struggling?"

Alex nodded, uncomfortable with talking about her mum in front of Piper. Red seemed to notice and dropped it. "I'll leave you two to it, just tell Nicky to call me okay?"

"I will." Alex promised, smiling at Red as she walked away.

Piper looked at Alex and smiled, wrapping an arm around Alex's waist and pulling her to her so that she could kiss her. They kissed each other for a long time, hands exploring each other's bodies provoking shivers and quiet smiles and moans from the other at each simple touch. Alex knew she was going to feel like she was in withdrawal when she eventually had to part from Piper and she wasn't looking forward to it. Alex didn't like feeling deprived of anything, especially not this delicious blonde that she had only just discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, spent a while on it and I hope I did their first kisses some justice! O tried to capture both characters more playful side in this although I admit that I may have got distracted at some point. Anyway, as always please, please, leave a review and let me know what you thought/think of the story so far and thanks for reading!


End file.
